What is EAPLS
EAPLS is an association that wants to stimulate research in the area
of programming languages and systems. The precise scope of the
association has been established as is discussed
below.
EAPLS aims at making contributions in the following areas:
- Collect and disseminate information related to
research that falls in its scope.
- Contribute to the organization of conferences
in its scope. It also provides a mechanism for financial support
(e.g. guaranteeing reservation fees) or legally carrying funds from
one conference to its successor.
- Seek cooperation with related organizations like EATCS, EACSL,
ACM SIGPLAN, ERCIM, Formal Methods Europe, EASST, etc.
- Raise funds (from EU, governments, industry) in order
to sponsor scientific events.
- Initiate scientific events in new areas.
- Stimulate the exchange of ideas and
cooperation between researchers.
- Stimulate the application of research results in industry.
A bit of history
The original idea to set up an
organization to stimulate the area of programming languages and systems was originally suggested by Reinhard Wilhelm in 1992. Since then, intermittent discussions have taken place via the
EAPLS mailing list, program committee meetings of various conferences and among
the various ESPRIT and HCM consortia.
The following two questions have dominated the discussions:
- Is it possible to achieve better coordination between
the conferences and workshops in this area
(e.g. ESOP, CC, PLILP, SAS, ...) and in related areas
(e.g. TAPSOFT, ...).
- What should be the precise scope and tasks of
an EAPLS-like organization?
Umbrella conferences
The question regarding the coordination of spring conferences has recently been resolved by setting up the umbrella conference
European joint conferences on Theory and Practice of Software (ETAPS) that will provide a common framework for all spring conferences mentioned earlier. A similar initiative to provide a joint framework for autumn conferences has led to the result that in 1996
PLILP, ALP and SAS were co-located in Aachen.
During the month November 1995 the discussion regarding the scope and tasks of EAPLS has been be resolved by a
voting procedure,
whose
results are reflected in the
EAPLS Statutes.
Formal inauguration
The association has been formally inaugurated in Aachen on September 24, 1996 during a satellite event to the SAS/PLILP/ALP conferences. On October 24, 1996 the EAPLS Statutes were subsequently signed officially at the premises of Mr. M. Meijer (notary), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
